Bad day at the office .....

 

Due to injuries and players away, it was a makeshift Classics team that took the field for the first of two extra league games, recently imposed by the league. To compound matters Danny Jensen was only available for the first half. It was a lackadaisical start and the visitors took a surprising 1-0 lead in the 11th. minute after Lorenzo Arcari could not hold a routine shot. He was punished by a player who had followed up to hammer the loose ball into the roof of the net. Not the kind of start envisaged! Gordie Macklin almost replied two minutes later but his effort was just wide. It was 2-0 to Inter in the 25th. minute after a mistake from Chris Arcari allowed an attacker to pick up the ball and punish the Classics again. Alan Massender was put through by Macklin minutes later and, with the goalkeeper way off his line, he should have chipped the ball but needed too long to control it before he was unceremoniously brought down, but the referee waved play on and the chance was wasted. Macklin became provider again in the 35th. minute and when he passed to Pat Rohla, just inside the box, he finished in devastating style by volleying into the top left angle of the goal. It would have graced any stadium and was the main highlight of the game. Sherman Foster was rugby tackled to the ground but the referee just awarded a free kick with no further punishment and the teams went in with a 2-1 scoreline in favour of the visitors.

 

It didn't get any better in the second half - the Classics were hit with another blow when Massender had to leave the game through injury - and Inter made it 3-1 when a right wing attack in the 55th. minute caught the defence sleeping and the resulting shot cannoned into the net via the outstretched shin of Dave Moore. The Classics managed to make it 3-2 when they upped their game a little. It came from an Alfie Deglan shot which scooped into the unguarded left side of the goal as the visiting keeper lay akimbo on the ground, having taken a tumble over an invisible leprechaun who was on his way to the Murrayville Pub. The Classics were in the ascendancy and a fight back looked a distinct possibility but it only lasted two minutes. A left wing break, which left Larry Thorlakson looking like he couldn't tackle a bag of cement, led to a breakaway by the left winger. He cut inside and with the near post covered, he hit a shot into the far top corner of the net; it was either hit with unerring accuracy or it was a complete fluke but the team decided we'd have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I bet he couldn't do it again though! The home side now had a mountain to climb, but it had changed from Mountain View to Mount Everest. It was an impossible task and the visitors ran out as worthy winners on the day. There's nothing else to report as it was a day to forget; I was even tempted to just leave a blank page, but then again, we win as a team so we must also lose as a team!

Stats
GK: L. Arcari (1st half), D. Moore (2nd half)